Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Neither Iban not anyone on his behalf will be present when the fourth testing of his B-sample will start today in the disgraced Paris lab Chatenay-Malabry. Iban has not received any notification from the UCI that it'll be tested once again. Nor has Saunier Duval or his lawyer. That's a serious violation of UCI's own testing procedures, as a representative of the rider has to be present when the testing takes place. The UCI would loose an eventual case in court on that alone. "Of course we're not going to be present (in Paris)", Iban told DEIA, "if we did that we would agree in their way of doing things". On question of what action he would take if it were to return positive, Iban said: "We'll go to CAS. José Rodriguez (his lawyer) has told me we've got somewhere between 90 and 100 % chance of winning the case, as the UCI are breaking their own rules". The Spanish Cycling Federation decleared war on the UCI if the test were to return a positive result. Eugenio Bermúdez, secretary of the federation, told DEIA: "We've got nothing to say at this moment. But if it comes back positive, then the real legal battle would begin". Iban's lawyer further had this to say: "I hope they won't do what they say they are going to. They would break their own rules. If they did that (again, I have to add), they'll loose all credibility". 'Nuff said.